Summary

Abby announces during pyramid that the girls will be attending an invite-only national dance championship hosted by Energy Dance in Beverly Hills. Abby tells them that they will all be included in a group number called "The Last Text." She then says that Energy is allowing her four additional dances: Mackenzie, Maddie and Brooke will take three of these four solos, and Chloe, Nia and Kendall are expected to compete for the last solo spot with the same routine.

While the girls are in rehearsal, Gianna shows the moms a tweet she got from the Candy Apple's claiming that they were looking forward to "kicking the ALDC's butts" at nationals. The girls come running out of practice after the group routine, telling their mothers that the routine and the music was really dark and creepy. They then say that Paige doesn't dance, which annoys Kelly. She storms into an alleyway and cries, threatening to leave the competition team because of the way she (and her daughters) were being treated by Abby.

Chloe and Kendall have private sessions with their mothers to run the solo. Both girls are feeling the pressure and get frustrated with their mothers for their input. Abby tells Brooke that the reason why she doesn't win first as often as (Abby feels she should) is because of her face, not her dancing. She also tells her that she is doing the Anne Frank routine that was pulled in an earlier competition, and says that she expects Brooke to know it perfectly. Maddie is doing a lyrical routine that is about telling herself she is back in the game. Abby also reveals that Mackenzie's solo is done to the same music as Vivi-Anne's "Honeybee" solo from season one.

Kelly takes Paige out of rehearsal early and brings her to a photo shoot. She doesn't turn up for rehearsal the next day, but then comes back explaining that she spoke to her girls off-camera and they told her they wanted to come back to the team and compete in nationals, so she has agreed to come back for the competition.

Abby decides that she wants the moms to vote for who will receive the final solo. Christi, Jill and Holly all vote for their daughters, and Abby decides that Melissa will make the final decision. Melissa chooses Nia, as she believes that Nia deserves the opportunity. Abby then rephrases her question, asking Melissa who will give them the best chance at winning at nationals. Melissa says Chloe, and Abby says that Chloe is the fourth soloist. Kendall is upset, as she believes that Chloe was always going to be the one to receive the solo. She cries and states outside of the practice room that Chloe didn't deserve to win the solo, but Jill tells her that it wasn't fair to say that.

Candy Apple's arrive, and are rehearsing at the same dance center as ALDC. Cathy interrupts the rehearsal, as she wants Abby to give her "proof" that some of her moms have been calling Abby about studio-hopping to ALDC. Abby kicks her out of their rehearsal, but later walks into CADC's rehearsal. She tells Cathy that it was only one mom - Justice's mom - who had been calling about switching studios. Justice's mom denies the claims, and Cathy's moms state that they believe her after Abby leaves. Cathy, however, says that she doesn't believe it. The pair take a walk down the street, and Cathy cries.

The team arrives at nationals and all the numbers go well. Mackenzie wins first and the title of Petite Miss Energy, Chloe wins first by one fifth of a point and the title of Junior Miss Energy, Maddie wins second to Chloe, Justice wins third and Brooke wins first and the title of Teen Miss Energy. The group number also places first, giving the ALDC a clean sweep. Cathy admits that she enjoyed the group number, and even congratulates Abby and the moms on the way back to the dressing room.

Back in the dressing room, Kelly is upset and states that it is because she thinks this may be the last time she will see her daughters dance on stage, saying she doesn't want them to come back as she is tired of the way Abby treats them. Abby replies that she doesn't want to get into an argument, but that Kelly doesn't realize how lucky her girls are. The girls come into the dressing room and Abby congratulates them all - the solos were outstanding and the group dance made people think. She then exits the dressing room.

Christi tells Kelly that she hopes she will think about whether to stay or go. Holly states that she never believed it would get to the stage where Kelly would actually leave. Christi says that nobody on the teams wants to see any of the Hylands leave, and this is backed up by Melissa who states that "as dysfunctional as it may be, we're still a family."

Dialogue

Christi:[sarcastically] Boy, that was amazing. You just made me feel something.

Christi: Or do you not care? Because if you don't care, let's all get on a plane and go home. Because I'd love to go home to your dad and your sister.

Other information

Pyramid:

Maddie

Mackenzie, Brooke

Kendall, Chloe, Nia, Paige

This is the second hour and a half episode, the first being Abbygeddon.

This episode has been broadcast in a shorter 60-minute format, as well as the original 90-minute version.

This is the first known time ALDC competed against CADC at nationals.

When Abby is discussing who to give the fourth solo (Silence) to after pyramid, she mentions that she could give it to Nia because she did well in the group dance. She is referring to "First Class", which was not shown in Solo Fever.

Sarah Parish is not with the Candy Apples in the episode, as she transferred to a studio called Center Stage.

Following awards on the night of July 18 and early morning of the nineteenth, tweets from Cathy, attending Candy Apple's mothers,[4] dancers,[5][6][7] and at least one CADC team choreographer[8] indicated that Christi had choked Cathy; that the violence seemed very real to them;[9] that it was very emotionally upsetting;[10] that the police were called; that Christi left the scene;[11][12] and that a report was filed with the police authorities.[13] Cathy additionally tweeted that Tanya McCort and Kara del Rey had pulled Christi off of her.[14] Tanya also indicated that Justice ran off while witnessing the incident[15], and when Maddie arrived moments later to the scene, Maddie sweetly tried to soothe Justice (as well as calm the other upset CADC children.)[16][17][18] Christi tweeted that there are two sides to every story; that cameras backed her side[19]; and that everything you read on Internet is not necessarily true[20]. The rest of the ALDC were mostly quiet on Twitter about the incident, although Brooke retweeted a message by Kerisa that "I am pretty positive" things have been taken too far when the cops are called; and retweeted another message by Erika that "I just want to go home." Edited, non-continuous camera footage of whatever happened was shown in Reunion, Part 1, and the incident was discussed again in The Smoke Before the Fire, with Abby stating that she thought Cathy should have pressed charges.

Barbara and Erika Schrade indicated that the attacks from Christi's supporters was deeply upsetting to them, including long afterwards.[21][22][23][24]

Tanya indicated there had been a decision regarding Cathy and the CADC to quit the show because of hatred they received from its fans; and that this decision was already made prior to the above incident. It was unclear if this prior decision involved only Justice, or all the CADC dancers[25]; but soon Tanya tweeted on July 19th that "the apples quit dance moms [but] not real life studio." [26]

This was likely the last appearance on the show for Erika, Kerisa, Justice; however Taylor is rumored to be returning, and has been spotted in recent Candy Apple numbers with Cathy's "Apple Core" group.

This marks the first time Chloe has won a title on Dance Moms.

Brooke's "Summer Love Song" music video is made available on Lifetime's network.

When they were doing Maddie's solo rehearsal, Abby said that it was contemporary, but when Maddie was performing it at the competition, Lifetime said it was lyrical.

Energy National Dance stated they had their results online for only a very brief period of time, and these were taken down before the episode aired, to the frustration of those curious about the event.[27][28][29][30][31] A cached page of results has been impossible to find, possibly due to the brief period of direct availability.